Digital Trends

Apple iPhone (8GB) July 3rd, 2007 | by Stewart Wolpin

Testing and Use Cont'd

As a phone, iPhone is quad band world band EDGE and also includes the far faster WiFi (802.11g). Once set at home, iPhone automatically links to your home network for quick Web access. When you leave your home network, iPhone automatically switches to EDGE, then back to WiFi when you get home. Away from home, you have to manually choose from an available WiFi network for fast Web access.

AT&T juiced up its sluggish EDGE network to coincide with iPhone going on sale, but WiFi is still three to four times faster. For instance, using WiFi, the front page of The New York Times was ready to read in about five seconds and completely filled in around 12. Using EDGE, the screen remained blank for nearly 20 seconds, and the page didn't load completely until nearly a minute had passed.

iPhone is unshielded, which means its GSM radio will produce shrieking static from any connected speaker. You can use auxiliary iPod speakers, but when you snap the iPhone into the 30-pin connector, the radio shuts off, which means you'll miss any calls that come it. Like the earphones, there'll likely be new or upgraded iPhone-compatible accessory speaker products.

Volume from the iPhone's earpiece is adequate for normal environment. When there's noise, you'll want to use the earphones. Ringer volume is equally tame, but the vibrate is quite violent. There are 25 ringtones to choose from; unfortunately, you can't assign one of your iPod tracks as a ringer. You can assign any of your pictures as wallpaper, however.

Many of iPhone's compromises, such as using EDGE instead of HSDPA and no stereo Bluetooth, are an effort to lengthen battery life. iPhone's battery supplies 8 hours of talk time, nearly twice as much as any other cell phone available, 250 hours standby, 6 hours of Web use, 7 hours of video -- enough for two full-length films -- and 24 hours of music listening. Your usage is likely to be a combination of all these functions. You'll likely need a recharge every two days or so.

But you can't swap out iPhone's battery, which is rated for between 300-400 charges. Judicious recharges could stretch the battery's life to a couple of years. To be safe, circle the day on your calendar a week before your one-year purchase anniversary so you can get your battery swapped while your iPhone's one-year warranty is still in force. Unless, of course, you buy the next generation iPhone and hand down this iPhone to someone else who can be responsible for swapping out the battery. 

Conclusion

Apple’s iPhone is a huge leap forward in mobile gadgetry. Unlike other smartphones, iPhone is not only highly functional but addictively fun to use and far greater than the sum of the previously described parts. Oh, and we'll bet that in the fall we'll see the next gen video iPod -- an iPhone without all the communications add-ons.


Pros:

• EDGE worldband phone
• WiFi Web access
• 3.5-inch touch screen
• 4 GB/8 GB memory
• POP3/IMAP email
• Application widgets

Cons:

• No external memory card slot
• No user swappable battery
• Non-standard 3.5mm headphone jack
• On-screen keypad